“Quite frankly, there is no answer to climate change without substantially, dramatically, increasing the amount of renewable energy in the global energy system.” – UNFCCC’s Christiana Figueres during IRENA video interview

Today, IRENA’s Director-General Adnan Amin met with head UN climate chief Christiana Figueres to discuss the key role of renewables in addressing climate change.

More than 80% of human-caused CO2 emissions come from burning fossil fuels for energy. Of that, 44% comes from coal, 36% from oil and 20% from natural gas. As such, energy must be our priority in bringing down global CO2 emissions.

World electricity generation is forecast to grow 70% by 2030. A doubling in the share of renewable energy, from 18% today to 36%, would help mitigate climate change by reducing the global average emissions to the equivalent of a 40% intensity reduction compared to 1990 levels.

For more, read IRENA’s REmap 2030 analysis.